Sex and the Spiritual Teacher: Why It Happens, When It's a Problem, and What We All Can Do

by Scott Edelstein, Mic Hunter (Introduction), Anne Katherine M.A. (Afterword)

Overview

Sex and the Spiritual Teacher looks at the complex of forces that tempt otherwise insightful, compassionate, and well-intentioned teachers to lose their way--and that tempt some of their students to lose their way as well. It analyzes why most of our current efforts to keep spiritual teachers from transgressing usually don't (and in fact can't) work. Perhaps most importantly, it suggests a set of practices and structures that can build community, encourage healthy student-teacher relationships, increase trust and spiritual intimacy between teachers and their students, and help authentic spiritual teachers stay happily monogamous or celibate. Sex and the Spiritual Teacher is for anyone who is or might become part of a spiritual community: students, teachers, clergy, lay leaders, and even casual visitors. It's a reader-friendly, no-nonsense guide to making spiritual life safer and fuller for all of us one person, relationship, and community at a time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861716449
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	472 KB

About the Author

Anne Katherine, now retired from her forty years as a psychotherapist, is a screenwriter, ghost writer, and National Park ranger. She is the author of numerous titles, including Boundaries, Where to Draw the Line, The Yesterday Doctor, and Stalking Yosemite. 

Table of Contents

What You Need to Know About This Book vii

Introduction: Sex, Spirit, and Safety Mic Hunter 1

Part 1 Spiritual Teachers and Sexual Transgression

1 Five Narrow Views 5

2 Exploiters, Errants, and Exceptionalists 23

3 Tangled Webs 35

4 Creating Healthy Teacher-Student Relationships 49

5 The Spiritual Teacher as Role Model 55

6 Why Spiritual Teachers Are Sexy 59

7 Sex and Spiritual Experience 63

8 The Paradox of Masculine Sexuality 71

9 Common Pressures, Projections, and Temptations 83

10 The Power of No 87

11 The Spiritual Teacher as Alpha Figure 91

12 The Sexual Power of Students 97

13 Spiritual Insight and Arrogance 101

14 The Spiritual Teacher's Partner: Soulmate or Saboteur? 105

15 The Shadow Side of Celibacy 109

16 Monogamy and Its Skeptics 113

17 The Power and Pitfalls of Gurus 117

18 Sex as a Spiritual Teaching 121

19 Tantra and Pseudo-Tantra 127

20 Crazy Wisdom and Its Shadow 133

21 How Exploiters Crash and Burn 141

22 How Errants and Exceptionalists Fall (and Sometimes Rise Anew) 147

23 Disillusion and Dissolution 153

Part 2 Cultivating Trust and Reducing Exploitation

24 Spiritual Community and Sexual Transgression 159

25 Double Helix or Tug-of-War?: Balancing Spiritual and Organizational Authority 165

26 Why Codes, Policies, and Therapies Aren't Enough 169

27 Building a Healthy Spiritual Community 175

28 Hiring a Spiritual Teacher: Mindful Guidance for Spiritual Communities 181

29 Building Support Systems for Spiritual Teachers 187

30 Training, Encouraging, and Culling Potential Teachers 195

31 When a Spiritual Teacher Transgresses: Responses of a Healthy Community 201

32 An Open Letter to Spiritual Teachers 215

Some Further Questions 219

Afterword: Knowledge, Action, and Power Anne Katherine 223

Recommended Resources 225

Notes 229

Acknowledgments 237

Index 241

About the Author 251